Help with olive shed, please?

[Chantelle_1]

Hi, just wanted a bit of advice about my olive's first shed. I have only had her 3 weeks.
She has had one feed, 2 weeks ago (a medium rabbit). She is 2 1/2 years old and 7 ft long.
For the past 4 days she has been curled up in her hide and hasn't moved much at all.
Her eyes have gone milky, so my assumption is she is going to shed.

My questions are: should I just assume she is going to shed, or should I get her out and make sure she is alright?
Current temp under basking spot is 32. She has a large water dish in the enclosure.
Is there anything else I should be doing, or just leave her alone (which is what I am tempted to do)

Thanks heaps
Chantelle

 

[Dan40D]

Just leave her be, if shes gone milky she will shed i the next couple of days. Trying to get her out will most likely end with blood been spilt, shedding snakes are cranky snakes.

 

[Bluetongue1]

I think Dan meant to say she will shed in the next WEEK or two – usually a week but can take longer

The snake is vulnerable during this process, initially due to reduced vision and then during the process of absorbing what it can before separating off the dead outermost layer. During the process of absorption and then separation of the old ‘skin’ from the existing scales and skin, the scales become quite soft. Handling at this stage, before they harden up again, does have the potential to damage the skin if anything out of the ordinary happens.

Blue

 

[Chantelle_1]

Thanks Blue. She is still in her hide, and her eyes are still milky. I haven't touched her.
But a week or two? That is such a long time............I miss her!!
We are coming up to a week, so I'm hoping half way there!!

Her eyes have cleared again now, so can anyone tell me how long I can expect to wait now?

It is so hard to not get her out, this waiting is not fun!

Thanks Chantelle

 

[Chantelle_1]

Just wanted to let those that helped me out with info, that Perci shed her skin yesterday. So now she is back to normal.
All up her shed took just over 2 weeks, longer than I was first expecting, but had prepared myself after Blue's comment. Atleast now I know what to expect.

I also did handle her a few times during those 2 weeks, on advice from her previous owner, and she was perfectly fine. She really is a very placid snake.
One of the times I took her out was to put her in a lukewarm bath. She loved it. She swam around for about 1/2 an hour. When she was ready to get out she just swam over to me and up my arm.

Thanks for your information, I was a little worried, but this site has been really helpful.

Chantelle

 

[Schnecke]

Thanks for the update Chantelle - not many people give an update, they seem to forget about their thread, so it's always nice to see a follow up comment

 

[mysnakesau]

Did she shed all in one piece?

 

[Chantelle_1]

When I found the skin in her enclosure, it was it two pieces, relatively close to one another. She had shed whilst we were out for the weekend.
By the looks of it, it was in one piece, but then she had slithered over the top of it and broke it.

Her eye scales have come off, as has the tip of her tail. I've done enough reading on here to learn to check those two areas especially.

I have thoroughly looked her over, and there is no shed remaining.

Thanks Chantelle

 

[Royziee]

Any advice on getting a clean 1 piece shed? My 2 olives shed last week pretty poorly.

I even sprayed them and their enclosures with mist to up the humidity a bit more but still came out pretty poorly.

 

[-Peter]

Make sure your temps are not too low, a dramatic drop in temperature or not enough heat after the blue phase will result in a poor slough.

 

[Royziee]

We've had some pretty cold nights and mornings lately.. Might throw in another lamp each for insurance.

 

[hissnbits]

We have found success with using a kitty litter tray as a water bowl. Large surface area brings up the humidy a little. We found a little experimentation was required to get the right balance. It is rare for our olives to not shed in one piece.